CENTENNIAL — For about five minutes Saturday afternoon, Corey McNellis found himself cheering for Highlands Ranch. Considering McNellis is in charge of Ponderosa and its wrestling dynasty, it was a precarious situation.
But with the Mustangs on the verge of losing their six-year stranglehold on the Class 5A Region 1 title, McNellis had to hope Highlands Ranch heavyweight Michael Purcell would beat Pomona’s Gage Boyd.
“You never like to depend on other teams to do your work for you,” the first-year head coach said.
While it wasn’t the preferred route, Purcell’s pin of Boyd in 3:03 extended an epic run of dominance for the Mustangs and allowed them to hold on for a 215-213 victory over runner-up Pomona.
Pomona coach Pat DeCamillis could only shake his head at his team’s close call.
“It may have come down to the heavyweight match as far as the team scores go, but we lost the tournament somewhere else,” he said. “It wasn’t Gage Boyd.”
Another match that left Pomona wondering was the 135-pound title bout between the Panthers’ Darrick Chavez and Overland’s Josh Christopher, who stormed back from a 5-0 deficit to win 11-9 in overtime.
Pomona did have two champions, Dominic Madril (112 pounds) and Donny Haupt (215), among its eight state qualifiers. Ponderosa had five winners, so the Mustangs will prepare for a possible seventh straight state crown on a high note.
Jake Snider (140), Daniel Kelly (145), Steven Kelly (152), Stephone Kling (171) and Derek Good (189) all stood at the top of the award stand for the Mustangs.
Snider, a two-time defending state champion, trailed late in his 3-1 win over Green Mountain’s Mikie Burgess, but never lost faith.
“I just had to keep my head in the match,” the junior said. “It really didn’t bother me that (Burgess) was ahead going into the third (period).”
Snider, Daniel Kelly and Grandview’s Eric Wilson (119) stayed on pace to defend individual state titles. Other region champions were Columbine’s Cody Weitzel (103), Green Mountain’s Cort Siegele (125), Standley Lake’s Gavin Peters (130) and Arapahoe’s Jake Wilson (160).
